Hands On With L.A. Noire On PC

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We sent Agent Smee to study the case of the L.A. Noire port to PC. This is the detailed report he sent back. Having studied its contents, we have no reason to suspect foul play.

The notebook I carry around everywhere is an unreadable mess. Written in handwriting so poor I can barely sometimes decipher my own words, it’s a collection of incomprehensible interview notes, indecipherable idle thoughts, scrawled doodles, contact details inevitably copied down incorrectly and shopping lists written over one another in different coloured ink before being scribbled out. It’s a nightmare, is what I’m saying, so playing LA Noire in the presence of the hard-nosed Detective Cole Phelps turns out to be some kind of lurid personal fantasy. His notebook, you see, is beautiful. Meticulous, organised, copperplate writing, lifelike portraits and intricate still life pencil compositions, the perfect tool of organised life. It’s not exactly often I find myself jealous of fictional videogame characters, but boy howdy do I want to be able to organise a notebook as well as Phelps.

Sitting down with Rockstar’s rep in their cavernous demo room I played one of the new DLC missions released recently for the consoles: Nicholson Electroplating. All of the DLC content
will be standard issue for the PC release by the way, missions and new outfits included. The man from Rockstar was keen to stress the build wasn’t final, though it was clear gold status wasn’t far off. Apart from a couple of brief loading screens he was at pains to say wouldn’t be in the final release, it ran as smooth as butter on the beefy PC provided and looked great with increased resolutions and higher quality textures than its console origins.

Like Rockstar’s previous effort with GTA IV’s PC conversion, the options screen included all the proper bells and whistles that should be in a proper PC game. Keyboard and mouse played just fine, though a gamepad could easily be switched in without a fuss. On top of the standard configuration, LA Noire supports 3D gaming for those of you who own multiple wallets to carry all your money. Playing in 3D was startlingly fancy and added a strong sense of depth, especially while manipulating evidence during the crime scene investigations. Unfortunately the 3D suffers from the usual effect of darkening the screen, which was a real problem in later shadowy locations. It was also quick about alt-tabbing, so that’s nice too.

The DLC case begins with a bang – an almighty explosion across town blows smoke high in the sky. No objective marker on your mini map, your only recourse is to drive towards the plume, keeping an eye on the smoke-filled horizon as you weave through panicking city traffic. It was enough to make it immediately feel like a different experience than the GTA standard Drive Here, Watch Cutscene, Shoot Men. Then I ended my drive at the scene of the explosion, watched a cutscene and then shot men.

Not off to a particularly revelatory start then, but after the brief battle with opportunistic looters the mood changed to something else entirely. Holstering his piece, Phelps steps up to the ruined remains of a chemical factory and walks into a completely different game. It’s a point and click adventure, frankly. It doesn’t play like a point and click, it doesn’t broadly resemble it: it is, plain and simple, a point and click adventure game, complete with searching the environment for inventory items, combining them and using them to figure out puzzles. Just, you know, in the midst of dozens of dead bodies and the ruins of an explosion with an as yet unknown cause.

I began to quietly wander around the ruined scene, looking for clues in amongst the rubble and the bodies as the mood-perfect 40s soundtrack drifted through the room. There’s more silent gravity felt in this one scene than most action games can muster in their lifetime. Indeed, Rockstar are adamant that LA Noire isn’t an action game at all, calling it a Detective Thriller and describing it as 70% investigation, 30% action, with many cases being entirely conversation/investigation based. Call me old fashioned, but that’s a pretty exciting prospect, especially when I saw how the rest of the case played out.

Investigating a scene, something I did in three different locations during the case, is handled by walking Phelps around and clicking when he’s standing over something of note, allowing him to pick it up for detailed inspection in a zoomed-in first person view. There’s an immediate tactile delight in using the mouse to guide Phelps’ hands to turn over crime scene evidence, looking for any telltale clues. Mouse control during these parts was overly sensitive however, resulting in cack-handed interaction, though Rockstar mentioned that was on the bug list. It was easy to see how naturalistic the movements would be once that’s been sorted.

The mechanics handling these investigation sections manage to tick a number of boxes at once, from the naturalistic positioning of evidence (finding a shirt in a locker and a business’s dry cleaning tag attached to it, for instance) to the dynamic music as more interesting clues were found. A brief piano key tickles your ears when you’re in a searchable area, and Phelps’ head turns to look around him at interesting objects as he walks, Grim Fandango style. There was a huge amount of material scattered around, some obviously important to the case but most incidental.

Still, all of it came together to form part of a narrative that fed into the imagination in the way the set dressing of the recent Fallouts did – who these people were, hints about what their lives were like. It was a relief to uncover a suitcase filled with top secret spy gear. Quickly the mood shifts again – industrial espionage! A rummage in the case points towards a spy on the loose with possible Japanese origins. Deciphering a mystery address using equipment in the spy’s toolkit is a breezy little puzzle, and Phelps automatically notes the location to his notebook, allowing you to drive over there to further the investigation.

Before that little trip however comes the first interrogation of the case. The owner of the factory has just turned up at the explosion site, and Phelps corners him for questioning. The way it works, if you haven’t played LA Noire on the consoles before, is thus: Choosing from a set of questions written in Phelps’ notebook based on evidence you’ve uncovered, you can pump the target for information. After his response, decide then if he’s telling the truth or, more intriguingly, a devious little liar liar pants-on-fire with something to hide. If you think or know the chap might be lying, you’ll need proof in the form of the evidence you’ve gathered so far in the case, which typically nails the sucker. If you don’t have any proof but still suspect them you can opt for Doubt, which ostensibly makes Phelps press the target to give something up. It’s been a common observation since the PS3 release that Doubt turns Phelps into an insane screaming psychopath, though in this mission at least all the Doubt options I went for were reasonable accusations, even if Phelps’ delivery did send my non-confrontational British heart of mine into a panicked quiver at all the angry noises.

It’s a neat, simple system and the brief uses of it during the mission were satisfying to use, especially when I could make a couple of deductive leaps along the way, the suspicious wag that I am. Phelps does however come across as a tad schizophrenic, since there’s no way of knowing what line of questioning Truth/Lie/Doubt will elicit from the lad, and a couple of times he went down a route in response to the subject’s answer I hadn’t even considered when thinking about the evidence I had gathered. It could be seen as taking control away from the player, though personally I was grateful for a small steadying hand during the preview – how my feelings might change over the course of a whole game of this sort of behaviour is something to be left for the full release.

Following that were more thoughtful interrogations and crime scene investigating all over town as Phelps and I gradually uncovered a deceitful money-making plot. Just when I thought I was about ready to nail some suspects in the course of the investigation, the case surprised me by picking up rather a lot of speed, ending with an escape from a burning building, a speedy car chase and a remarkably thunderous finale featuring a two-man assault on a military compound to take out a machine gun nest and a private army, of all things. It was mildly over the top but thrilling all the same – just like an episode of a police drama that begins and ends with a little slice of action, the middle filled with dialogue and investigation. Just put through the action-exaggeration machine.

Of course it’s with the much talked about facial animation technology where LA Noire’s visuals really shine, and shine it does: it’s nothing less than astounding, every time it’s on screen. Unfortunately it has a peculiar side effect of making everything else look worse, even though the environments and city are clearly expensively constructed and meticulously detailed. The problem is the faces look so good and so lifelike compared to the rest of the world, it’s almost as if the game is shot through one of those seaside photo booths that let you stick your face through a hole in a painted cartoon scene. That unfortunate effect however is diminished and frequently defeated during the conversations and interrogations, it’s just that seeing Phelp’s little human face poking out above his little video game body as he’s walking around can be a little creepy every now and then when you catch it at a particular angle.

The actual acting shown in the mission was strong, though sometimes verged a little on the hammy side, especially when an actor’s interpretation of “tell a lie” is to look less convincing than a guilty child standing next to a broken vase. Rockstar sees this as a benefit however: “Now the acting can be a little hammy, but we wanted it to be that way sometimes, to empower the player. To show that this guy really is a slimy sleaze scumbag who needs to be taken down – that’s really satisfying.” True enough, though I’m looking forward to cracking harder nuts all the same. On the other hand, the two lead actors were solid performances.

Detective Cole Phelps played by Ken Cosgrove, Accounts From Mad Men is professional and guarded during the case, and at all times was partnered with the adorably surly Herschel Biggs, played by Oh You Know, That Police Officer The Joker Taunts In Batman Dark Knight And Also Kidnaps Angel’s Baby In Season 3 And Turns Him Into Pete Campbell From Mad Men And Wasn’t It Odd When He Had Sex With Cordelia?. The cast is filled with similar “Oh, him!” moments, making the experience a rather jolly novelty. It’s a feeling uncommon to gaming, as previously only distinctive celebrity voices sometimes stand out, and all builds on the mood of a police drama, with the guest actor of the week making a stand out appearance.

So it looks like it’s LA Noire on PC. Is that surprising to hear? As far as I can tell from a couple of hours playing, it has all the strengths and weaknesses it had when it came out on console, wrapped up in a really nice looking package. There’s no doubt the PC version is looking fab with its sharp textures and anti aliasing. It’s pretty much everything you want in a good PC conversion, though it doesn’t actually feel like a conversion – with its point and clicking, note keeping and mostly sombre pace, it feels like it’s the best extension yet of classic, very PC adventure games.

It’s coming home on November 8th in the US and November 11th in Europe.

Whoa, that’s getting a GOTY? Is there another DLC coming out finally? I seem to recall them saying threeadd-ons would come out, but I quickly realized that probably meant those two online games and the stupid zombie game. Also, haven’t they been selling the Undead + regular combo since the beginning of the year? So GOTY just adds the dumb multiplayer hideouts?

I did ask Mr Gilmore about RDR PC, and his answer was a definitive No. His reason was that they don’t have the time nor resources to do the port, and they don’t want to farm the conversion out either. Sadface.

Andrew; Gotta love Rockstar logic. They don’t have the time nor resources for an RDR port, but they give LA Noire, an underperforming and much less loved title than RDR with lower profit prospects, to Rockstar Leeds (Who have no PC experience) to port it, not to mention that a RAGE game (i.e. GTA IV) has been done for the PC and is still selling and is still being promoted by Rockstar on Twitter.

@Andrew Smee: That is indeed sad news :( I do hope that they will port it over at some later point. RDR on PC would be amazing. I am still getting L. A. Noire for the PC, but I can’t believe that they chose L. A. Noire over RDR, it doesn’t make any sense.

Though the engine struggled with adapting to the GPU-focused PC scheme the port was actually very good. The high-res textures added a TON of richness to the image and the settings options were robust. Being able to play with one hand on a control pad and the other on a mouse for example.

Also it is worth mentioning that the console versions of GTA4 ran at sub-720p at like 20-25 fps, so playing it on PC at 1920×1200 with 40fps is a godsend on medium distance (still much higher than console distance), even if you think your rig should be pushing 60fps.

When GTA IV was first released the graphics options were bizarrely limited. It was something like only 3 sliders that went from 1 to 100. At max, no computer at the time could run the game and I’m not sure if its possible today either. So the game seemed to have terrible performance and it wasn’t at all clear what you were changing.

Not playing a game because of DRM is like not eating chocolate because the chocolate salesman was rude to you. is going to kick you in the crotch repeatedly while you eat it and then forcibly extract it back out of you any time he decides he wants it back. Get a grip! Fixed!

Great article, Andrew – so apart from a few flaws which are promised to be ironed out (they’d better, hehe), it actually feels like a PC game? It’d definitely on my “buy” list now.
Did they say what that “beefy” PC they ran the game on was?

Except for turning shadows off I don’t remember any significant options being added in patches. The game had a ton of PC options at launch and also had high-res textures added, which I wish more games did.

Pretty much all complaints about GTA4 come from performance, not options.

Former employees of Team Bondi claim to have been forced to work inhumane hours with no overtime pay while creating this game, and were under the thumb of very abusive managers. Supposedly their modus operandi was to burn through developers until they quit and then hire new ones.

Team Bondi convinced a lot of talented, passionate developers that the video game industry is a horrible way to make a living. Who knows what incredible project will never occur because of their awful business practices.

So here’s the million dollar question.

Is it ethically permissible to buy this game? LA Noire is essentially a blood diamond. Personally, I think I’m going to pass on this game for the same reasons I wouldn’t buy pirated games from a store – it’s detrimental to the hobby I love.

Note that most of those comments are very one-sided, we don’t know the whole story nor can we assume. It could easily be the case that Bondi were flubbing the whole thing and Rockstar needed to kick some ass to pull the game from the fire.

Also note that almost any developer will tell you that ANY videogame company is a horrible place to work in with tons of unpaid overtime at crunch time.

I don’t think it’s a good decision, I mean, you can say the same thing about pretty much every game… or a product. The clothes you wear were probably made in a factory where people are being treated like slaves. This is the world we live in.

The difference between this and blood diamonds, is no one was forced to produce it. Every single one of the people who complained about the conditions chose to suffer them.

So yes it is ethically permissable – in terms of human suffering.

Your slightly wider point is more interesting. I bought the game, because
a) I’m quite happy for developers to make their own informed choices and,
b) for a Triple A gme this was ambitious and unusualy and I particularly wanted to reward that bravery in producing it.

Happily for me – and possible for you – Bondi have gone out of business and Rockstar are reaping the benefits of their vision.

Maybe I overstated the situation but the fact (or at least the claim) of the matter remains. Buying this game is endorsing the abuse of game developers. Many games have hectic crunch times but LA Noire allegedly crunched for years.

I wish RPS would give their take on this. I love games and I want to play this game, but not if doing so is bad for games in general.

No one held an actual gun to their heads, no. But what if you quit your job you suddenly could not pay rent, pay for food, electricity, water, etc. If you can’t support your family otherwise you might not have much of a choice. They had a choice but they might not have had the freedom to choose so to say.

@NimNo one held an actual gun to their heads, no. But what if you quit your job you suddenly could not pay rent, pay for food, electricity, water, etc. If you can’t support your family otherwise you might not have much of a choice. They had a choice but they might not have had the freedom to choose so to say.

You don’t have to quit your job just like that, Team Bondi aren’t (weren’t) the only employers in Sydney: you can find another job first then hand in your notice, it’s a better way of handling that kind of thing.

Trust me on that, due to circumstances I won’t go in to I’ve done it both ways and it’s always better to find a job when you’re in a job.

Just want to pitch in on the blood diamond “analogy” (you actually said it IS as blood diamond):
It’s not just inaccurate as per others’ replies, but it’s pretty damn offensive. Maybe you’d like to compare the working conditions to Auschwitz?

But then, you did apologise for overstating, so fair play. Just thought someone should say it.

That put me off this game too. The problem is that I’m a sucker for period games like this. I managed to finish Mafia 2 even though some of the game mechanics were just horrible, but I liked the setting.

I’ll probably wait for a Steam summer sale. It doesn’t sound like a day-1 purchase for me, based on many of the comments here.

I was really looking forward to this…but then I played some of the console version and it was pretty damn bad — not at all what I was hoping for. Even the interrogation system, the one thing you’d think they’d get right, was poorly integrated. Human Revolution actually did basically the same and made it feel like I was genuinely reading the other person and responding accordingly. In LA Noire it feels like a cheap guessing game.

The game doesn’t even get the “noir” part right. It should feel like an old hardboiled crime movie, but instead it’s just a generic crime game that happens to be set in the 40’s.

Being a PC only person (nothing against consoles, it’s just the only gaming system I have,) this one kind of passed me by. I had seen a couple of trailers, but didn’t really know anything about the gameplay. Then I heard it being talked about on a couple of non-gaming programmes, where the overriding feeling was of the commentators not really knowing anything about games and just playing it because they were being paid to.

So, to those that actually have played it, are there any interrogation moments that are as awesome as the Bill Taggart conversation “battle” in DE:HR? A game filled with lots of those would be fantastic, but I’m guessing this ain’t it, judging by the comments.

I enjoyed it thoroughly when I stole my brother’s Xbox to play it, but I do think it would’ve been a much better game if it was less point-and-click and more here’s-the-evidence-deal-with-it, if that makes any sense.

If I had to compare it to any one game, I’d compare it to those Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys detective games I used to play with my sisters. All of the cases are fairly linear with a minigame or shooting sequence in between. It’s great fun, but unfortunately it’s not as cerebral as it appears.

Like Rockstar’s previous effort with GTA IV’s PC conversion, the options screen included all the proper bells and whistles that should be in a proper PC game.

Weird use of “all” considering there was no anti-aliasing support on GTAIV at all. Couldn’t even force it via graphics card drivers, and could only get it via the ENB mod which came with a side order of framerate rape.

Use the FXAA Injector made by “some dude”. It applies FXAA to almost every game, even those which have no AA support whatsoever. You can use a sharpening filter with it, too. It makes GTA4 look phenomenal and has barely any impact on framerate.link to neogaf.net

I played this on my console box, and it left me in two very conflicted minds.

On the one hand, some of it is pretty mediocre. The city is essentially empty outside of the random missions you pick up over the radio; it looks fantastically detailed and was obviously expensive to make but is almost entirely lacking in interactivity. The story skips around some and doesn’t do a good job of exposition at some points. Phelps also definitely requires anger management courses or something.

Then again, the facial animation is spooky good, the music is stellar and the overall feel is pitch-perfect. Most of the voice acting is great, even if the script is a bit wonky and/or hammy at points. It’s also great to run into all these character actors and “hey, that guy!” people during the investigations.

It really feels like they had all the parts for a truly awesome game, but ran out of time to flesh it all out. Which is a shame, both for the ex-Team Bondi guys and for what it could have done for adventure games as a whole.

“It’s coming home on November 8th in the US and November 11th in Europe.”

That’s really very kind of Rockstar. I would probably have bought this on release if I was in the US, but its like they are saying to me: “don’t bother – you know you’ll just be playing Skyrim anyway. Pick up our game on a budget deal later, if you remember.”

As a point-and-click adventure it’s almost brilliant, but the conversation system is so badly implemented that it torpedoes the whole game. If you could only see what each option is going to make Cole say, it’d be much, much better; but as it is you often think you’ve asked him to wheedle a little more information out of a reluctant witness and instead he leaps over the table at them and starts frothing about them being the killer, wherupon you swear at the TV, reload your last save and go through it all again. There’s also the problem that the game instantly tells you whether you chose the right dialogue option or not – there’s only one correct answer and if you fail, you know it immediately and can’t recover from the error. Combine that with Cole’s infuriatingly mercurial interview behaviour and most of the game for me was staring at the reload screen until he got his lines right.

There is only so much interactive movie you can make. After just having the Xbox version a week or so ago .. i was left wondering why didnt i watch one of the classic detective movies instead using that time ?

I also wonder how scalable this entire motion capture tech is. It sort of reminded me of Wing Commander IV / Prophecy and the massive amount ( for that time ) of movie cutscenes they crammed in. For pretty obvious reasons, they stopped doing it and nobody else picked that particular fad up ..

that lung nam
Game looks good but as a side note i’d just like to point out to @feudemonj00 that nope… definitely spelt “tyres”! Sorry for the pointless post but it is only in reply to another pointless post lol! I loved the story and graphics of Alan Wake; but the 3:rd person view frustrated the game completely: I wanted to investigate the fascinating environment, looking left and right; but all I saw was the back of my own head. I’m in the game to investigate the game’s world, not “myself”.
L.A. Noire must have a 1:st person view if I’m to buy it.